“Memoirist Jeff Zuckerman Answers My Nosy and Probably Annoying Questions”

WITH BOOK REVIEWER STEVEN LADURANTAYE

1. The one thing that really struck me was your decision to present a very one-dimensional view of your wife. She struck me as a menacing character who never quite makes it into a full scene as a rounded character. How deliberate was this? Did you worry if you focused too much on her that your decision to write a book specifically about the spousal experience would be diminished?

Steve, if that was your read of Leah’s character, so be it. But I disagree with the premise.

I deliberately did not want to write a female monster story like, say, “Fatal Attraction” or “Play Misty for Me” or “Hansel and Gretel.” The sad truth, though, is that Leah’s severe mania was frightful.

In fact, I understated how bad things were. To ignore the destructiveness of severe mania on marriages and friendships would be dishonest and pointless. Still, even when Leah was in the hospital for mania, I described her “sweet side when her kindness and compassion percolated mercifully.”

But beyond all that, based on early readers’ reactions about both our characters, I added a lot about our decades together long before the onset of bipolar disorder. And the scene when Leah first attended her support group, among many others during her severe depression, are heartbreaking.

I still get weepy when I read those pages, and it was with profound joy and love I typed in the final chapter, “For the first time in four years I was getting my wife back.” Read the rest of Steven Ladurantaye’s interview here.